Pelosi “Playing with Fire” Regarding China

The New York Times reports that administration officials are saying Speaker Nancy Pelosi is “expected to proceed with a plan to visit Taiwan.”

Nancy Pelosi shrugs at a podium with Tom Perez and American flags in the background

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned President Joe Biden about “playing with fire” in a lengthy conversation on Thursday.

RootsAction has put out an alert: “Say No to Nancy Pelosi’s Dangerous Taiwan Trip.”

James Bradley, author of several bestsellers focused on U.S. policy in the Pacific and Asia, including The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia, is perhaps most well known for his book Flags of Our Fathers.

He now lives in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, and has produced numerous episodes of the “Untold Pacific” podcast including “China Rising” and “U.S. Military: ‘War with China Inevitable.’”
He was just on a podcast about Pelosi’s trip. He said today:

“Pelosi is indeed ‘playing with fire’ as Xi says. This is more dangerous than a similar trip by then-speaker Newt Gingrich in 1997. Adding to the tension, the U.S. has also sent in the Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier to within China’s 1,000 mile limit. It is extremely vulnerable to new Chinese systems designed to attack aircraft carriers. … There’s no evidence that China wants a military confrontation. Military conflict regarding Taiwan will happen if the U.S. government starts or provokes it.”